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Sunday, August 9, 2009

Well, today I'll be playing a bit of catch-up. It's been a busy week! Heck it's been a busy and crazy 2009!

The Job Front

To start, for those of you who don't know, on Feb 18th my husband was laid off from his job as Executive Banquet Sous Chef (I know, a very long and fancy title) from a very large Resort and Convention Center in Central Florida. Needless to say, it shook up our world a bit. I have been a stay at home mom(freelance artist) for the past eleven years. Before that I was an art teacher. So jumping back into the crumbling job market was not looking too promising. We were scared.

Having a few months to sort things out (thanks to severance, and a tax refund) we started reviewing our options. Hubby could start looking for a job immediately or we can start planning that business we always wanted to start, The Bagel Business. We opted for planning the bagel business. We gave ourselves three months to write the plan and take it to the banks. After three months of working 8 hours a day together on the plan, we were ready to present it to the banks. We were immediately slapped with a reality check! To make a long story short we learned, "It takes money to make money." Hmm, Where have I heard that before?

Feeling a little defeated, we understood that it was time to put the bagel business on hold and get on with the job search. Having three months left of our life savings, the heat was turning up. Hubby started looking for a job again (and I started looking for a teaching job.) The news was terrible, unemployment was up. He networked, nothing. He submitted hundreds of resumes via internet search, nothing. Then finally a call, from a really good company! Then an interview, then a tasting, then another interview, then another interview, then cooking with the Exec Chef, then another interview, then finally an offer! (this was all with the same company and the entire process took about 6 weeks.) Then meet with human resources for paper work and drug tests and background check. "We'll get back to you in a couple of days." A week later, nothing, no phone call, no email, nothing. We were feeling wrecked! Did he really have this job? My husband was confident. To me, without a start date there was no job. (And now we are running out of money). I nagged, Call them, email them. He did and nothing, no answer. We were in the dark. Then, finally a call, Friday evening! You start Monday. A huge sigh of relief.

We made it through the unemployment hell. But not without a few wounds. This is a great company, hopefully with a lot of opportunity to grow, but we take a huge step backwards. The position is lower than his previous one and there is a huge pay cut. I am still looking for a teaching job and I have started advertising a little more aggressively with my mural business. Starting to get some calls again.:) We are also still selling our chalkboards. This business is really starting to pick up. We've sold 20 on etsy so far! We're really enjoying working on this together. Although it is going to start getting a little more difficult since the chief chalkboard maker now has a full time job. But no complaints, well make it work!

I pray for everybody out there who has lost their job. Stay positive and keep moving forward. I hope for the best for everyone.

Chalkboard Update

I will be doing a chalkboard photo shoot later and add some pictures here. We've got lots of new chalkboards. So come on back later to check it out!:)

Catching Up

I have received a couple of awards from some wonderful blogger friends. I am so honored to have them.

The first one is from Kathie @ my net finds. This award was created by Kathie and here is what she writes about it on her blog:

I made this award for the special bloggers who take the time to not only read my posts, but also leave comments, respond to comments, form blog friendships with and support others, answer blogger questions, etc.....the ones who are a real "gem" in the bloggy world. Thebloggy world wouldn't be the same without you!

The only rule for this award is that to accept it, display it proudly on your blog for all the bloggy world to see your greatness and/or pass it on to other bloggers as you see fit.

I accept this award and will proudly display it and share it with other awesome bloggers.Thank you Kathie, you are a true gem!

The next award is from That Design Girl another wonderful blogger friend, who has join my new blog Creatively Fit!! Thank you for the award. I am a two time recipient of this lovely award. I will be passing this award on to many lovely blogger friends.I will be back to add my list.

That Design Girl also tagged me to tell 6 random things about myself. This is a tough one. OK here goes.1. I can touch my nose with my tongue. My younger son inherited this "gift".2. I performed in musicals when I was in college. I had a wicked solo in the production of "Hair" In the opening of the second act I had to walk from the back of the theater, down a catwalk, through the audience wearing platform boots, singing angelically "My body is walking in space..." Here's a picture of the get up that I wore. The second act was called "the trip" I was George Washington:)And here's the whole cast "tribe" Can you find me? Wonder what the gangs up to today? This was 19 years ago!!3. I attended 6 colleges and received degrees from two, B.A. and M.S.. And I'm thinking about going back to school again.4. I'm a slightly out of shape size 6, soon to be in shape, thanks to Creatively fit. One week of walking and my gluts are already feeling tighter.5. I went to my Jr. Prom with one of the Baldwin brothers, hint the youngest.6. I have naturally curly/wavy combo hair and I hate it.

Ok that was semi painless.

Here are the rules for the tag:

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.2. Post the rules on your blog.3. Write six random and/or revealing things about yourself.4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog6. Let the tagger know when your post entry is up on your site.

And finally in the news ...Where's the confetti, fireworks, streamers, red sirens...

I have exactly 100 followers!!Correction-Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. After I wrote this post I came back to find that one of my followers flew the coop. I hope I didn't say anything to offend. Oh well, 99 is a great number. My son was #99 in football last year, 99 red balloons, and we're going to party like it's 1999!!:)

9 comments:

The job market is def tough these days, my hubby and I are going through the same, he lost his job in food service and I am looking for in art history...kind of weird you posted before me in SITS today huh? But comforting in a way, lots of us our going through it out in the real world. Have a great Sunday!T.

so happy for you and your husband.....the job loss is a horrible thing......my best friends husband lost his and she was just a mess!!!!!!glad things are loking up for you!!!!!!i love your chalk boards!!!!

Whew...that was a long one. I just finished catching up on my posts and see that I have one more to add. ;) I love the photos of you in your play. I never saw those before. Things are LQQking up! Let's keep it that way. And, puhleeze, you'll have 100 again by the end of the day! ;)

Oh I feel you! We just went through this exact same thing right down to the pay cut with a new company. But he loves the new job and we're (holy cow slowly) climbing back up. I just joined your site to follow along and hope things keep swinging the right way for you!